MediaMonkey

I am surprised that a player superior by far to VLC is missing from the list. On my specific hardware where VLC has problem playing 2 mbps bitrate mkv files without dropping frames or freezing, xPlayer plays file encodes as high as 6.5 mbps, without a problem, everything else being equal.

I think you should re-visit your research and do some more digging
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I've been struggling for years trying to do this with WMP. It is confusing and frustrating. This is literally all I want to do. No video issues or anything else. Just getting audio podcasts of my religious journals onto my mp3 player. What do you suggest? Thanks!

On any given hardware freeware sPlayer is better than any of those listed in the article. On my dual core Atom ION MiniItx system VLC dies at even 2mbps bitrate 720p mkv playback. Drops frames or even freezes. sPlayer, which BTW is freeware, plays even 11 mbps 720p mkv files without sweat.

A consistantly fine product which has been able to play everything that I have ever attempted to play. Comes in both a free and 'pro' version that does a great job at ripping tracks.